The most-watched Halftime Show in NFL history
By Nic Longstreet
This year, the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show was not one to miss. Grammy winners Kendrick Lamar and SZA took the stage, and it was nothing short of remarkable. It was also filled with symbolism and commentary about the United States and the expectations surrounding the Black community. It was the best one in a long time—filled with energy, fun, and, of course, disdain for a certain Canadian rapper.
Kendrick started with a new freestyle, using the GNX announcement video snippet, then transitioned to “Squabble Up” from his latest album, GNX. One key detail that stood out in Lamar’s Halftime Show was the use of his new album and the absence of his more well-known songs. He did perform “HUMBLE.” and “DNA” from his 2017 album DAMN., but other than that, it was all new material.
Another element of the Halftime Show that has garnered a lot of attention is the role of actor Samuel L. Jackson as “Uncle Sam.” Throughout the show, he gives Kendrick guidance, telling him what he “should” be doing, at one point asking Kendrick if he “really knows the game?” and to “tighten up.” It was an interesting addition, as “Uncle Sam” was supposed to represent American ideology, and everything Kendrick did went against the preferred way of doing things.
There have been numerous interpretations of the Halftime Show, each one more in-depth than the last. The interpretation that the Halftime Show was meant to represent how the American public views Black people is particularly interesting, considering that when SZA performed “All the Stars” and “Luther,” Uncle Sam stated, “That’s better,” and called Lamar’s previous song choices “too ghetto.”
But it wouldn’t have been the Halftime Show without the song everyone was hoping to hear. For the past year, Kendrick and Drake have been having a back-and-forth, with many accusations thrown around and diss tracks exchanged. Kendrick dropped the final nail in the coffin with the heavily West Coast-influenced “Not Like Us,” which won five Grammys this year, blew up, and, in many people’s eyes, ended the battle. Drake responded with a defamation lawsuit and went after UMG for allegedly boosting the song’s streams. There was a lot of speculation about whether Kendrick would even perform the song at the Super Bowl, but in true Kendrick fashion, he did.
First, he teased it, saying he wanted to perform the song, but “you know they love to sue,” smiling as he said it. When he finally performed “Not Like Us,” he looked directly into the camera and said, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young,” with a huge smile, leading to memes and Twitter (formerly X) going crazy, with people commenting on the next-level hatred on display. It only got worse for Drake when the entire stadium sang along to the infamous “A-minor” line.
At the end of the day, despite the criticism from the peanut gallery (like those who called it a DEI Halftime Show), this was the most-watched Halftime Show in NFL history, overtaking the King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s Halftime Show, with 133.5 million viewers. In a tense time like now, at least we were able to enjoy the performance of a generational talent like Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
